We might imagine that the visions of angels announcing Jesus’ resurrection from the dead would be so dramatic that the women who had seen them could never come to doubt them. And yet, precisely because their experience was so singular and outside of the normal course of events, that is exactly what they did. For…
In the first written account of Jesus’ resurrection, Matthew highlights the initial discovery of the empty tomb by Mary Magdalene and another Mary, the mother of James and Joseph (abbreviated as Joses), and His subsequent resurrection appearance to them; see Mat 28:5-9. However, for his purposes in summarizing the account, he omitted details of the…
Jesus’ followers believed He was the Messiah, but couldn’t understand His many warnings that He would be crucified, and never expected Him to be so; cf. Luk 9:44-45. When it happened, they no doubt hoped that God would somehow rescue Him. For in spite of His teaching that God would also raise Him from the…